BANDIRI* (SOMALIA)
“Education is the passport to the future.”
See Layla’s Refugee Learner Narrative Mogadishu is a big city with a population of a million people. The buildings are very close for another perspective and additional Caluula GULF O F A D E N Breeda together like London, England. There is not much DJIBOUTI Gees Asayita Bandar Murcaayo Djibouti Boosaaso Gwardafuy Saylac Raas (Bender Cassim) Butyaalo Dikhil Surud Bargaal information on Somalia. Raas Maskan Qandala ee space between them. I have always enjoyed a good c l Raas Ja Raas Binna Silil Khansiir Xiis Maydh Laasqoray Karin D aho a D t r Hurdiyo ro Raas relationship with my family. I was surrounded by AWDAL Bullaxaar Berbera Ceerigaabo (Erigavo) B AARR I Xaafuun Xaafuun Baki S A NAA G Iskushuban Boorama Ka relatives, family, neighbours, and teachers, all WOQOOYI rkaar Mountains D Burco Dire Dawa GALBEED e Togwajaale r (Burao) Garadag Qardho Bandarbeyla Dudo Nazret Hargeysa Life before Canada Harer Jijiga Oodweyne who supported each other. The culture that I come Xudun Kiridh Taxeex TOGDHEER S O O L E yl from is one where “everybody is your parent.” In Garoowe Buuhoodle Laascaanood Degeh Bur NUGNUGAAAAL Raas Gori Rit Gabbac Birthplace and Family my community when a child has done something Eyl
bad or is going to do something wrong, an adult Berdaale Xamure ETHIOPIA Werder Beyra Seemade (Galcaio) Garacad Megalo K'ebri Dahar Gaalkacyo usually intervenes. They will speak to the child or Imi MUDUG Is ka warran. Nabad miyaa? Hello. How are you? My War Galoh Gode Shilabo Baxdo Mirsaale Hilalaya stop them from behaving badly, even if the adult Mereer-Gur name is Bandiri. I was born on October 19, 1991, in Dhuusamarreeb Hargele (Dusa Marreb) is not the child’s parent. We would call these GALGUDUUD Hobyo Mogadishu, Somalia. Just a few months before the Ferfer Ceel Huur Ceel Buur caring adults uncles or aunts, even if they were not W Beledweyne Xarardheere e b BAKOOL i
burbur (catastrophe) of 1991–92 and the collapse of Derri
Dolo Bay Xuddur HIRS AAN h I N DIAN O CEAN (Oddur) a Buulobarde relatives. This was considered a sign of respect. I b e Ceeldheere Luuq Tayeeglow e l l e the Somali state, clan war, and famine. Garbahaarrey Baydhabo was very happy living in this community. SHABELLE KENYA (Baidoa) GEDO Mahadday DHEXE Buurhakaba Weym El Beru Hagia Wanlaweyn Cadale Diinsoor BAY Jawhar (Giohar) Before coming to Canada, I lived one month in Baardheere Balcad W Afgooye e b i Muqdisho (Mogadishu) Qoryooley J Wajir u BANADIR SOMALIA b JUBA b SHABELLE School in Somalia a Nairobi, Kenya. I belong to the Somali cultural Marka (Merca) National capital DDHEXHEXE HOOSE Haaway Regional capital Baraawe Town, village group and the language that my family spoke and Bu'aale Afmadow Airport Jilib International boundary continues to speak is Somali. My family consists of My first school was a Koran school that I began Bilis Qooqaani Regional boundary Jamaame JUBA Undetermined boundary SOMALIA Main road six children (four boys, including myself, and two attending at the age of four or five. This was a HOOSE Kismaayo (Chisimayu) Track
Isole Railroad girls) plus my parents. religious/spiritual school. At the age of seven, I Giuba 0 50 100 150 200 km Buur Gaabo 0 50 100 mi began attending a “normal” school and entered Raas Kaambooni The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map - do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. - In Mogadishu, we lived in a villa. My mother looked Grade 1 (there wasn’t any kindergarten year). Garsen Lamu
Map No. 3690 Rev. 10 UNITED NATIONS Department of Field Support after the children while my father worked at two I attended school from Grade 1 to Grade 8. My December 2011 Cartographic Section stores he owned. He sold construction equipment in parents had to pay a monthly tuition of about $10. the Bakara Market (also known as Bakaara market) The primary school’s tuition was $7 a month. All of © United Nations/Department of Field Support, Cartographic in Mogadishu. my brothers and sisters also went to school. If you Section. Map No. 3690 Rev. 10. December 2011. Map of had a lot of kids, you were in trouble. Somalia. CC License.
* To protect the participant`s privacy, pseudonyms have been used in this narrative.
30 When I attended primary school, it was from The school was a one-storey rectangular shaped 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. When I attended junior building with primary grades on one side and junior SOMALIA high school, it was from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The high on the opposite side, with the school office subjects were taught in Arabic and Somali. I at one end. The rooms are identified using the Bakaara Market studied English in high school. The school year was Somali alphabet rather than numbers. The school from August to May and we attended for 5 ½ days a building was made of cement. The windows were The Bakara Market (also known as Bakaara, week, Saturday to Thursday, which was a half-day opened to get cool air, because there was no air Suuqa Bakaaraha) of Mogadishu is the largest only. Friday is jumu’ah or “Friday prayer day” and conditioning. There were just tables and chairs in open market in the nation. The Market is located was our day off. Boys and girls attended the same the classrooms, no other equipment. The students in the heart of Mogadishu. The market was school. At first, the sexes were not separated but learned from books or the teacher’s notes on the created in late 1972. Merchants and businesses when the Islamists took control of the government, board. Not all the students had books because they sell everyday food essentials, gasoline, and that changed. After that, the males and females weren’t able to afford them. They would copy the medicine. During the Civil War, the market were separated. This happened about the time teacher’s notes into notebooks. There weren’t any expanded significantly and became notorious for when I was in junior high. handouts. selling small arms and other weapons. In my first school, there were 180 students with Bakara market has been the site of about 24 to 25 students in a class. When I was many violent incidents and events over in junior high, the class size increased to about the years, including the October 1993, 30 to 34 students. We used to sit two or three Battle of Mogadishu (also known as The students together at a cement table, attached to Battle of the Black Sea). It was in the the ground. Students stayed in their classes and the market area that two American Black teachers rotated. This was true of all the grades Hawk helicopters were downed which led even in high school. If the classroom was filled with to a fierce firefight that lasted the whole students, then the extra students would either go night. More recently, on May 14, 2011, to another school or wait until the next semester heavy shelling hit the market resulting to see if there was room. The school just had in at least 14 civilian casualties. Most of classroom spaces and we did not have any space the civilians killed were women who were for students to get together. If necessary, students doing their shopping and a child was also could cross the city to go to another school. It killed. really was based on first come, first served. References • UNHCR, 2012 UNHCR country operations profile – I did not like the teachers very much. I think that Somalia,
31 The first incident occurred when I was in high school. In the afternoon, there is a break at 3:00 p.m. followed with prayers at 3:15 p.m. One day, I was washing myself in preparation for prayers when a teacher came along who felt that I wasn’t hurrying enough. The teacher told me that I should have been ready by that time. The teacher beat me with a very hard stick. I felt that the teacher had beaten me for nothing. My uncle was the vice-principal of the school and so I told him what had happened. My uncle told me that he would speak to the teacher.
Another incident involved the same teacher. I was writing an English exam and I had brought a math book into the exam room. When I am nervous I sweat a lot. The book had a plastic cover and I used the book to rest my hand on to keep the sweat off my exam paper. I told the teacher why I was using the book. The teacher didn’t believe me and kicked me, hitting me in the kidney. That day I went to my uncle and my mother and told them that I wasn’t going to that school anymore.
The third incident involved an issue about the payment of school fees. The © Abdurrahman Warsameh/International Relations and Security Network. May 12, 2008. school wanted me to pay for a month when I did not attend school and I was Students at Al-Khaliil Primary School, Mogadishu. Despite the shelling and pitched battles in the Somali capital, teachers, parents, and students are willing to risk life and limb for an discussing the situation with the accountant. My math teacher overheard the education. CC Licence.
But not all teachers were bad. Some teachers were very good, very honest, and did their jobs well, teaching even when they were sick and advising students on life issues. The teachers controlled the whole school and they could do whatever they wanted.
Despite the physical punishment and the attitude of some teachers, I enjoyed going to school. My mother never had to wake me up for school. My favourite subject was geography. I was successful in my studies in spite of the relationships I had with some of my teachers. I only missed about two months of school when the war directly affected the city of Mogadishu. Before Canada, my dream was to attend university and help Somali kids by possibly becoming a teacher.
© M.Sheikh Nor/UNHCR. May 11, 2010. A Somali woman carries her belongings as she flees to safety in Mogadishu.
32 Civil War
Civil War and Conflict War changed my life. In times of Somalia achieved independence from Italy in 1960 and merged with the British protectorate of Somaliland to form the war you don’t worry about going modern Somali Republic. Dissatisfaction with Barre’s totalitarian regime in the 1980s led to the outbreak of the civil to school. I witnessed many bloody war in 1991 and overthrow of Barre’s regime later that year. From this point on, Somalia became a divided nation with days in Somalia that made me forget different groups and militias, competing for power. Since 1991, conflict and instability has continued in Somalia and the about school. Three of my brothers civil war has gone through three distinct phases. were persecuted and killed by Ethiopian soldiers. My father was put United Nations intervention (1992–1995): The combined effects of the civil war and extreme drought conditions into jail, where he suffered a stroke created a massive humanitarian crisis in Somalia. Early in 1992, estimates suggested that over half of the Somali due to the stress of the situation population of 4.5 million people, were in severe danger of starvation and malnutrition-related disease. This resulted and lack of medical attention. He in the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) intervening in 1992 by sending forces to support is a diabetic and has high blood humanitarian aid. Later, a United States led multinational Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was dispatched to ensure the pressure. As a result my father is now protection of the relief efforts. The UN forces were withdrawn in March of 1995 as a result of opposition from several of paralyzed from the stroke, unable the competing militias. to use one hand and one leg. I was also jailed at the age of 15 for three Steps Towards a National Government and Ethiopian Intervention (2000–2009): The early 2000s saw the first months. steps towards the establishment of national administration and government. These resulted in the creation of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in 2004. However, by 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamist In 2006, the nature of the war in coalition of militias, assumed control of much of the southern part of Somalia. The TFG fought to re-establish control Somali changed. It went from a being over the territory with support from Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeepers, and the United States of America. a civil war to a regional war that By the end of 2007, it had managed to drive out the rival ICU and resume its control over most of the country. However, involved nearby countries and other some of the more radical elements of the ICU, including Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their fight against the TFG international forces. It became a kind and the presence of Ethiopian military in Somalia. From 2007 to 2008, Al-Shabaab managed to again control many of global war. The Islamists militia areas of central and southern Somalia. By 2008, the TFG together with several rebel groups agreed to a truce and (Al-Shabaab) began to take over the formed a coalition government. country and Mogadishu during this time. The United States got involved Southern Somalia and Al-Shabaab (2009–present): Presently, the war is concentrated in the south. This phase of the civil war started in early 2009 with fighting between The Federal Government of Somalia (with the support of and supported those fighting the African Union peacekeeping troops) and the forces of various militant Islamist factions led by Al-Shabaab. This phase Militia. They sent East African troops of the war saw the continued presence of Ethiopian troops and the involvement of Kenya in support of TFG. The into Somali to defeat the terrorists in violence has displaced thousands of people in the southern part of the country. Somalia and nearby region.
References The situation was desperate during • Ryerson University Diversity Watch, Somalia
33 private. The heath care was so bad that if militia. The militia was not an army, it was you had money and any type of significant civilian. They didn’t have a particular dress “You Don’t Know Who To Blame” health issue, you had to go out of the or military numbers. The militias did what El country to get the necessary care. Qaida did. They bombed and they fought. It War Crimes in Somalia was very difficult for the soldiers to find the militias because they fought at night, wore “Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting between the Things changed again in Somalia and civilian clothes and covered their faces. In many parties to the Somali conflict: the TFG, al-Shabaab, another situation arose. Allies of the Somali the morning the soldiers would spread out in AMISOM, the Ethiopian-supported pro-TFG militias Ahlu Government intervened and 30,000 to the district looking for young men who could Sunna Wal Jama’a and Ras Kamboni, and Kenyan-supported 40,000 soldiers with tanks occupied the be involved with the militia. militias. There have been serious violations of international country. They were targeting the rebel humanitarian law (the laws of war) by the parties to the conflict, including indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas and infrastructure, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and summary killings.
Somalis fleeing from al-Shabaab-controlled areas reported widespread human rights abuses. Al-Shabaab continues to carry out public beheadings and floggings; forcibly recruits both adults and children into its forces; imposes onerous regulations on nearly every aspect of human behaviour and social life, and deprives inhabitants under its rule of badly needed humanitarian assistance, including food and water.
The population in areas controlled by the Transitional Federal Government and its allies has also been subjected to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. These include arbitrary arrest and detention, restrictions on free speech and assembly, and indiscriminate attacks harming civilians.
Somalis seeking safety in Kenya contend with police harassment, arbitrary arrests, and deportation back to Somalia. Somali refugees en route to the sprawling complex of refugee camps at Dadaab, Kenya, take hazardous back roads to avoid the Kenyan police and the official border post that until recently remained closed. They are then at the mercy of well-organized © S. Abdulle /UNHCR. February 9, 2009. Displacement in Somalia. Recent fighting in Mogadishu has sent networks of bandits who engage in robbery and rape.” thousands fleeing the capital for Lafole, where they set up a makeshift encampment near the 100-bed maternity hospital run by Dr. Howo Abdi. Dr. Abdi said that she had not seen such crowds since 1991 when the civil From: Human Rights Watch, “You Don’t Know Who to Blame,” 14 August 2011, war toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Conditions at the encampment are rough with several people
34 On one such morning raid, five male members of my family, including me, were captured by the Ethiopian soldiers. I was 15 years old at the time and I Somalis in Nairobi was the youngest of the group. I was taken to a Somali troop station.
Kenya and its capital city, Nairobi, hosts many Somali refugees and We were separated. My three brothers were taken to the Ethiopian camp. My immigrants. Eastleigh district of Nairobi is inhabited primarily by Somalis. father was taken to the biggest Somali station. Each of us was unaware of In the commercial sector of the district, many businesses are owned by the where the others were. Those taken by Ethiopian soldiers were usually killed, Somalis. tortured, or persecuted. One day the Ethiopian soldiers were attacked by the militia. Several Ethiopian soldiers died. As retaliation, the Ethiopian soldiers Kenyan Security Forces from time to time will carry out operations to murdered all the prisoners inside their station. My three brothers were part of identify and arrest Somali refugees without legal documents. In the last the group who were murdered on October 10, 2007. They were not involved few years, the declaration of war by the Somali al-Shabaab militant group in the militia. Beyond my immediate family, there were many more of my has heightened tensions and placed the Somali community in Kenya under relatives who lost their lives. greater scrutiny.
Source: Somali Refugees in Eastleigh, Nairobi by Manuel Herz, Published in: Instant Cities, I was freed thanks to the actions of my mother who paid $100 for my release, (Ed.: Herbert Wright), Black Dog Publishing, 2008. which she collected from our relatives. My father was also eventually released because he had had a stroke and the soldiers didn’t want to look after him. While in jail, I was sometimes interviewed by the soldiers. They wanted to get information about the militia from me but I didn’t know anything. After I was released in the beginning of October, 2007, my family and I decided that I had to leave Somalia. I did so on October 15, 2007, just four days before my 16th birthday!
I was sent by my family to Kenya for my safety, but I had to travel alone.
I traveled from Mogadishu to the Kenyan border through southern Somalia. It was a difficult land to travel through. I didn’t need to hide but, when I got to the Kenyan border, it was very risky. The soldiers make sure that they see you.
My path took me through Somali communities and villages on both sides of the border, as North East Kenya is called the Somali region because there are so many Somali people there.
I managed to cross from Somalia to Kenya safely, but I couldn’t stay in that part of Kenya. I had to get to Nairobi. In Kenya I travelled by car at night, not © Dan Kori. Somalis in Nairobi: Garissa Market, Eastleigh. CC License.
35 I stayed with my father’s friend in Nairobi for a and I was not likely to have problems with the sent me to Family Services. They also assigned me month. I felt like I had lost my freedom during this immigration people. My father’s friend said that in a legal guardian who was a counsellor at Welcome time. I was always hiding. I couldn’t walk down Winnipeg I would get my immigration papers faster. Place. She helped me with my finances, gave me the street at night because it was too risky. I My father, mother, and two sisters were forced to advice, and took me to social events. She helped could not take the chance of soldiers stopping and remain behind. They couldn’t get out because it me a lot and she helped fill the empty spot that questioning me. I didn’t have papers and I didn’t was too risky to travel by foot, by car or truck. was created when I left my family in Somalia. have money to bribe the soldiers, if necessary. The only way they could get out of Somalia was by There was always the fear that I would be put in airplane, but there was no money for them to do I am very thankful for the help I received from jail, possibly tortured, and called a terrorist. I so, and I was not able to help them. But even then, Welcome Place. I met my friend Mada, who is also stayed inside most of the time and during the day it would have been very risky for them. Somali and had also worked at Welcome Place. I was helped by my father’s friend to complete Mada helped me a lot too. He shared his room with documentation to immigrate to Canada. When I arrived in Canada, the only person I knew me, until he moved out a few months later after he and my only friend was my sponsor, my father’s got married. I couldn’t go to school during this time period. friend in Toronto. My memories of this period in my life are all bad. Now that I have been here for a while, the thing I Kenyan people were nice but the Kenyan soldiers like best about being in Canada is that I feel safe were not. They were too rude to strangers. They Starting a New Life in Canada right now. tortured and raped women even during the present day. I was 16 years old when I immigrated to Canada. I arrived in Winnipeg on December 12, 2007, and so my first Immigration to Canada impression of Canada is that it is a very cold place. The snow was piled I was in Nairobi just before coming to Canada. I up high in hills. I was not expecting lived with my father’s friend. I really didn’t know hills of snow and wondered how the anything specific about Canada. I just knew that it snow became hills. There was a lot was a country that is safer than Somalia and Kenya. of snow that winter. There was a I knew that in Canada there was a chance for a 40 degree difference between the better life and that I could build a future there, and temperature in Winnipeg and Kenya that I could then help my family. In Canada I could and Somalia. I was not dressed for the build a new life. weather.
I wanted to “open that window” that going to Since I came to Canada under Canada allowed me to do. That was the image that “different” circumstances, when I I had. It also included the United States. I chose arrived in Winnipeg, my first step to come to Canada because my father’s friend was to approach the local Somali “sponsored” me as if I was his son. I travelled with community for help. The president of my father’s friend as far as Toronto but then I the community at that time took me © J.Ndua/UNHCR. June 11, 2007. Members of the popular Waayaha Cusub band outside the video rental business that they run in Nairobi’s Eastleigh district to went on to Winnipeg. I did so because my father’s to Welcome Place. Welcome Place raise funds for their operating costs.
36 I like the diversity that I see in the population. I like living with different people. In Somalia everyone knows everyone. If you go Back to School in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp from one corner to another corner everyone welcomes you and treats you like family. Someone will know your uncle or dad by The new academic year got under way in September 2011 in the world’s largest refugee name in other parts of the country. I could connect with people camp complex, with some 43,000 Somali children turning up for classes at Dadaab in I met because they were somehow connected to a relative. In north-east Kenya. Somalia everyone is Somali. It’s like they are one big tribe. This makes them too close. But here in Winnipeg living among Education in Dadaab is a luxury denied to most of the children who live there. Set up at different people and from different communities, everyone is the outset of Somalia’s civil war in 1991 to accommodate 90,000 refugees, three camps very happy to be with others. They are very helpful, and very near the northeastern Kenyan welcoming. They are all very town of Dadaab—Hagadera, Ifo, happy to be here. Canada is a and Dagahaley—are now home good place to be. to more than 5 times that number, and persistent conflict in Somalia, from where 95 percent of the But there are some things refugees originate, means the that I do not like about living population grows daily. In 2012, in Winnipeg and Canada. the refugee population there was These are the weather and close to 470,000. the geographic location (I miss swimming in the Indian Ocean Some, particularly those who have a couple of times a week), arrived in the last three months, and the loneliness. I miss my are going to school for the first family greatly. I have friends time. But enrolment rates among who help me, but not as much the estimated 156,000 children as I sometimes need and they of school age are relatively low in can’t replace my family. It’s Dadaab’s camps, which have 19 not the same. It is not good to primary schools and 6 secondary live alone, and have all these schools. In addition, there are 11 memories of my parents and private, fee-paying primary and six sisters and missing them all the secondary schools. time.
According to the UN Children’s I am pleased that I have been Fund (UNICEF), the primary able to give something back school attendance rate is to the Somali community in 43 percent while in secondary Winnipeg. At one point I was schools the rate is just 12 percent. invited to share an apartment © S. Perham/UNHCR. September 2011. First day of school for Somali refugees at the new Ifo 2 Primary with a young man who also School in Dadaab, Kenya.
37 Youth organization. Ali is no longer involved with no place for me in Somalia. The officer recognized students’ hope and encouraged us to think and the organization, but I am. I have been given the that I, Bandiri, was seeking a chance for a life and dream about our futures. responsibility of being the organizer/coordinator he told me that I was more than welcome to stay for the organization. Ali also introduced me to the here in Canada. The immigration officer talked This was quite different from my experiences with community and the soccer team. The relationship to the school that I was attending and he asked teachers when I attended school in Somalia. In with Ali has proved to be very good for me. I easily questions about my life. As a result I was given Somalia, there wasn’t any discussion of personal made many good friends through the organization. permanent resident status. And now, at the time feelings or family matters. There was a distance of the interview, I am preparing for my Canadian between the teachers and the students. It was all I am one of the founders of the Winnipeg Somali citizenship test, which will test my knowledge about discipline. Youth League and I got involved in sports, of the history of Canada and my competency in particularly soccer through the organization. This English, among other things. involvement helped me to build confidence, to develop many good friendships, and it has made School in Canada me happy. I volunteer in the community and help Somali youth stay in the school by encouraging I attended a junior/senior high school in the south- them to continue their education and helping them western part of the city of Winnipeg. I call it the recognize the importance of education over money. star school. I had just arrived and was 16 at the We also do a lot of fundraising through bingos and time. I was first placed in Grade 9. Initially my social events. timetable included some junior high subjects, Grade 9 Math, Physical Education, and EAL classes. My adjustment to living in Canada was helped a lot In second semester I had some Grade 9 and by my involvement in the Somali community, being Grade 10 courses. I was placed partly in regular supported by Welcome Place, playing soccer, and programming and partly in EAL. Three out of five the moral support I receive from my family from classes I attended were in the EAL program which their twice monthly phone calls. Also, I have had involved English, math, and social studies, so this a fairly stable home. I didn’t move a lot, because I was approximately 60% of my day. don’t like moving! The EAL program had an EAL teacher and Keinan Abdi Warsame (also known as K’naan) is a I was very scared when I first came to Canada. But an educational assistant (EA). There were Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter, and the Somali people are very strong. I was advised instrumentalist. One of his biggest hits and one that gained approximately 12 students in the program but the him a world presence was his single “Wavin’ Flag,” which when I left Somalia to be careful and to try not to class numbers would fluctuate throughout the year. lose my identity. However, when I came to Canada was chosen as Coca-Cola’s promotional anthem for the The EAL teacher and the EA helped a lot. They did 2010 FIFA World Cup. Besides hip-hop, K’naan’s sound is I realized that people respect my culture and that more than teach the contents of the textbooks. influenced by elements of Somali and world music. He is I can live freely as a Somali Canadian. When I went They would help in many other ways. They helped also involved in various philanthropic initiatives, including WE Day. to court for my immigration hearing to obtain me deal with Family Services; they helped with permanent resident status, I found that I was more © David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons. April 22, 2010. my family situation; they encouraged me to study; K’naan at Tribeca Film Festival 2010. Creative Commons than welcome here. The immigration officer told they worked hard to develop a relationship with me that he knows that Somalia is going through Attibution 2.0 Generic License.
38 In my school in Winnipeg, the EAL teacher The school program and all the support and EA invited the students to their I received really met most of my needs. Life from 95 homes and encouraged the students to However, I believe that more EAs are Immigrant and be close to them. They were more than needed in the regular classes to support Refugee Community just teachers. They used to bring their EAL students. Organization of Manitoba Inc. (IRCOM) own children to school to talk with the is located at 95 Ellen EAL students about attending university, During the first two years at the school, Street in downtown and the way of life in Canada. The EAL I found it difficult to get to know the Winnipeg. It is a teacher and EA were able to help me regular (non-EAL) students. By the third transitional housing learn and to adjust to the school. year, it was much easier and I had many complex that is the first home in Canada friends among the regular students. for many newly The “regular” teachers were very helpful I met some of them through playing arrived refugees and as well. They would ask me about my life soccer and others in my non-EAL classes. immigrants. In addition before coming to Canada. They offered They discovered that I was very friendly to housing, IRCOM help and asked me how they could help and I had friends who came from many delivers social and recreation programs. me. They had a great deal of respect for backgrounds, not just Somali. On average, 300 me. Eventually, I became very well-known people live at IRCOM in the school. The teachers were very I graduated from high school in June 2011, of which more than pleased to have me as a student. I was four years after I arrived. I liked being in 50% are under the voted the most valuable player for soccer school in Canada because I believe that age of 18, thus youth by the teachers. programming is an education is the passport to the future. important part of the And, I know that I have to prepare for services provided. While going to school, I had to work. that future today. I want to get that IRCOM’s youth © Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of program through I worked three nights a week from passport! Manitoba Inc. (IRCOM), Jim Agapito and Ervin Chartrand. 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. on Thursday to the Winnipeg Arts Used with permission. All rights reserved. Council’s With Art Saturday. I used to go to school every day Program was able to at 8:00 a.m. but my attendance became Life Today and Hopes provide youth with a video-making project that explores their experiences and features erratic. But the teachers let me be their voices in navigating in their new environment and the challenges they face. Artists, because I would always do my homework for the Future Jim Agapito and Ervin Chartrand, worked with the IRCOM youth over an extended period even if I handed it in late. They and a project emerged that reflected an artistic style and content that was relevant to My family was finally able to leave Somalia the youth. Wab Kinew and Dammecia Hall joined the filmmakers (mentoring the youth in understood that I needed to work and so hip hop music and dance) as well as other artists to create a high quality rap video and they were lenient with me, because they and they are now living in Kampala, documentary of the process. IRCOM youth decided what they wanted to say and in what could see that I was trying very hard. Uganda since March 2010. I have started way, making their video unique and personal, as well as an often universal expression of But, there was one teacher who scared the process of sponsoring them to life in a new land. me. This was the Grade 10 Pre-Calculus Canada. In the meantime, I send $300– The youth of IRCOM who wrote the music and performed in the films were: Azim Math teacher who was always quite $400 a month to help support them. I am Bekhodjavea, Takatel (T.K.) Dayasa, Dagmawit Fekede, Mandela Garang, Mohamed excited about being reunited with them (M.D.) Mohamed, Musa (D.P.) Mohamed, Daniel Ogbagirgis, Biniom Tesfaldet, and serious. But, she allowed me to hand in Jamshaid Wahabi. assignments late because she knew that soon. This will mean a lot to me. I was trying. She also gave all the EAL Live from 95 video:
39 Presently, I have taken some time off from Muuxi Adam is a my studies. I did this because I have to former economics prepare and to look at my situation. I need student at the to consider my family, scholarships and loans University of available, and how to start university in the Winnipeg and one of University’s first best way. This is my preparation year. Opportunity Fund students. In 2012, I have found work at the university that I he was a recipient of plan to attend and I am getting to know the the Annual Sybil Shack Human layout of the university, where the classes Rights Youth Award. are held, and who the professors are. My Muuxi arrived in friend Mada has helped me find information Winnipeg in 2004 as about various financial resources to help © University of Winnipeg. Muuxi Adam. Used with a teenage refugee me attend university. I am planning to apply permission. All rights reserved. from Somalia, for Opportunity Funding. I am interested struggling to overcome the effects of working 16-hour days without pay in a garage fixing cars. in studying international development Since his arrival in Winnipeg, he has been dedicated to helping other refugees. and conflict resolution. I hope to finish as At one point, he was employed as the After School Program Coordinator at the soon as I can in completing a double major Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba. Currently, he is degree. When I begin my university program, the Newcomer Community Development Coordinator for Aurora Family Therapy during the summer months I would like to Centre. A few years ago Muuxi helped to found Humankind International which, in the spring of 2014, opened a new pre-school in Dagahaley Camp. Shadya Yasin is a teacher who was born work with one of the United Nation agencies around 1984 in Somalia. She later lived that work with the refugee people of the He is a community leader who is in Tanzania and Kenya, before emigrating world, and especially the children in East to Canada in 1998 while in her teens. She passionate about is presently working toward a Masters in Africa. I want to help these children. working with youth Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in and their families Education. My hopes for the future are good. I am and is also a Yasin is an an active community member mostly satisfied with my life and experiences filmmaker who and, since 2008, she has been the network produced “Ray of in Canada and my prospects for the future. Hope” an inspiring coordinator for the York Youth Coalition, in Canada is the only option that I have to help Toronto. She has recently been named as one documentary of of the People to Watch by the Toronto Star. myself, my family today, and my family in courage and luck.
40 VIDEO RESOURCES
See Caution Concerning the Use of Resources about War Somalian Refugees and Experiences Canadian Somalis in Alberta Parts 1–3 by and Refugee Experiences. Global TV is a series that looks at violence in the Somali Refugees in Kenya—Hawa’s Story by Somalian community in Alberta. The Conflict in Somalia MSF South Africa: “Hawa, a young Somali woman Part 1: who has fled the civil war, talks about the violence www.youtube.com/watch?v=L16j1sckC-Y Somalia Refugees by Journeyman Pictures is a she has escaped and the realities of her life as a Part 2: documentary covering the history of the conflict refugee.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=2owKOYEXtKg since 1991 and the challenges that Somalians face www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kNyIg4_-Tw Part 3: in surviving in such trying conditions. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HGLpd2bJss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOdFq69itQ4 Somali Refugees: Camps in Crisis by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): Civil War Kids: Young Somalis in Minnesota by Somalia: caught in the war of Mogadishu and War “UNHCR faces a major challenge in finding MPRdotOrg: “This is a glimpse into the stories of in Mogadishu by FRANCE 24 English, are two solutions for newly arrived Somalia refugees in young Somalis confronting violence in their new videos that provide information about the conflict in Kenya.” communities, struggling with the psychological scars southern Somali in the 2009–2010 period. http://unhcr.org/v-49be1e262 that the bloodshed in their homeland left behind and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUO4Pe9503Q building stronger relationships in the process.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y_tFQ6kOVY Somalian Diaspora www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3r6DmYlp2o This is Somalia by International Rescue Committee: Mustafa Ahmed 12 Spoken Word Artist Somali A series of videos about the Somalian-Canadian “The International Rescue Committee’s Peter Toronto Canada by M.J.G is a moving and thought- artist, K’naan Biro reports on the crisis in Somalia, a country provoking video of a performance of a young • Somali Success Story by garoowe74 devastated by conflict and the worst drought in Somalian Canadian artist. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQiro2luFjQ 60 years. As a result of the violence, hundreds of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qCc8CppZbg thousands of people are displaced inside Somalia • Shameless Idealists—K’naan by with little access to humanitarian aid. Learn how the Integration TV—Episode 2: Somali-Canadian freethechildrenintl IRC is helping uprooted families survive.” Community and Education by INTEGRATIONTV, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm0lLGsozBY www.rescue.org/video/somalia is a City TV programme focusing on the Somalian • K’naan explains how Islam shaped his giving Canadian Community. This programme focuses Conflict in Somalia: a young member of the militia by by The Globe and Mail on education including an initiative by the Toronto www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LRs_14HNxI BBC Learning Zone: “A report following a young boy, District School Board to help Somalian students • K’naan—Wavin’ Flag (Coca-Cola Celebration Mix) Muktar, who is a member of a militia group in the succeed that became controversial. by Knaan VEVO Somali capital.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFHKVU9X9jc www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/conflict-in- www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTJSt4wP2ME somalia-a-young-member-of-the-militia/3227.html • Knaan Goes Back To Somalia by CEO CidPro Tv www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wqXsLzoFgQ
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